¶ BioNTech
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BioNTech is a German biotechnology company based in Mainz, Germany.
¶ History
BioNTech was founded in 2008 by Ugur Sahin, Christoph Huber, and Özlem Türeci with a seed investment of €150 million from the Strüngmann family (through its investment vehicle AT Impf) and MIG Capital.[1]
¶ mRNA research and development
In August 2018, BioNTech announced that it had entered a “multi-year research and development (R&D) collaboration with Pfizer” to “develop mRNA-based vaccines for prevention of influenza (flu).”[2] Under the terms of the agreement, following BioNTech's completion of a first-in-human clinical study, Pfizer would assume sole responsibility for further clinical development and commercialization of mRNA-based flu vaccines. BioNTech received $120 million upfront.
In September 2019, BioNTech received a capital contribution of $55 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with the option of doubling that investment amount at a later date.[3]
On October 16, 2019, Nature published an article describing BioNTech's successes in testing experimental immunotherapy vaccines for cancer, and suggested the progress could be applied to solve problems like rabies and pandemic influenza.[4]
¶ COVID-19
On March 16, 2020, BioNTech announced its receipt of a $135 million investment from Fosun Pharma in exchange for 1.58 million shares in BioNTech and the future development and marketing rights of the mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 in China.[5] Also, BioNTech announced a collaboration with Pfizer to scale-up manufacturing capacity to provide worldwide supply in response to the pandemic. BioNTech and Pfizer would commercialize the vaccine worldwide except in China, which was already covered by BioNTech's agreement with Fosun.[6]
Amendment No. 3 to Form F-1 Registration Statement. (2019, October 9). BioNTech; Securities and Exchange Commission. https://web.archive.org/web/20221228202950/https://investors.biontech.de/node/6751/html#toc ↩︎
Maas, S., Woolford, J., & Alatovic, J. (2018, August 16). BioNTech Signs Collaboration Agreement with Pfizer to Develop mRNA-based Vaccines for Prevention of Influenza. BioNTech. http://archive.today/2021.12.08-155206/https://biontechse.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/biontech-signs-collaboration-agreement-pfizer-develop-mrna-based ↩︎
Boehler, M., Schweitzer, G., & May, S. (2019, September 4). BioNTech Announces New Collaboration to Develop HIV and Tuberculosis Programs. BioNTech. http://archive.today/2022.01.03-191438/https://investors.biontech.de/news-releases/news-release-details/biontech-announces-new-collaboration-develop-hiv-and ↩︎
Dolgin, E. (2019). Unlocking the potential of vaccines built on messenger RNA. Nature, 574(7778), S10–S12. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03072-8 ↩︎
Burger, L. (2020, March 16). BioNTech in China alliance with Fosun over coronavirus vaccine candidate. Reuters. https://web.archive.org/web/20220720182255/https://www.reuters.com/article/biontech-fosunpharma-vaccine-collaborati/biontech-in-china-alliance-with-fosun-over-coronavirus-vaccine-candidate-idUSL8N2B90UW ↩︎
Rose, A., O’Neill, L., Crowe, R., Alatovic, J., & Maas, S. (2020, April 9). Pfizer and BioNTech Announce Further Details on Collaboration to Accelerate Global COVID-19 Vaccine Development. Business Wire. https://web.archive.org/web/20220720183348/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200409005405/en/Pfizer-and-BioNTech-Announce-Further-Details-on-Collaboration-to-Accelerate-Global-COVID-19-Vaccine-Development ↩︎